Game device having a resiliently tethered ball



P. J. BUTKUS March 24, 1970 GAME DEVICE HAVING A RESILIENTLY TETHEREDBALL Original Filed May 11, 1967 O T m V m Pezer cl BY TTORNEY UnitedStates Patent O M 3,502,337 GAME DEVICE HAVING A RESILIENTLY TETHEREDBALL Peter J. Butkus, 27 Burnet St., Maplewood, NJ. 07090 Continuationof application Ser. No. 637,749, May 11, 1967. This application May 19,1969, Ser. No. 830,194

Int. Cl. A63b 69/36 U.S. Cl. 273-200 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA ball tether cord comprises two cord sections each having one endconnected to one end of the other, the other ends of said sections beingconnected respectively to a ball and to a tethering pin, one of saidsections being longitudinally resilient or elastic and the other beingrelatively non-stretchable, and a non-stretchable check cord isconnected to said tethering pin and to said non-stretchable sectionbeyond the ends of the elastic section, to positively limit the extentof stretch of said elastic section, said check cord and saidnonstretchable section of the tether cord comprising in some casesintegral portions of one piece of cord.

This application is a continuation of my application filed May 11, 1967,Ser. No. 637,749.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are several forms of ball gamedevices, particularly for golf practice, which include means intended toreturn the ball to the player after the ball has been struck.

In one device, a non-stretchable cord has its ends connectedrespectively to a ball and to a pin or stake to be driven into theground, but this device is not satisfactory because unless the ball isstruck in a special way it will not return to the player.

In another device shown in Patent No. 1,326,976, a length ofnon-stretchable cord is connected at one end to one end of an elasticcord and the other ends of the cords are connected respectively to theball and the stake, but this device leaves much to be desired becausethe elastic cord is repeatedly stretched to its limit by the struck ballso as to be short-lived, and there is the possibility of the playerbeing hit by the ball during its forceful return upon contraction of theelastic cord.

Another device is shown by Patent No. 2,032,081; the ball is attached toone end of a non-stretchable cord the other end of which is connected toa stake, and an elastic cord is connected to and arranged transverselyof the non-stretchable cord with its ends anchored to the ground. Whilethe elastic cord will return the ball, the cord tends to break downquickly and the ball must be struck by a wood, or iron driver to causethe ball to follow a low trajectory or the ball will not be returned tothe hitter; it will drop to the ground near the stake far short of thetee.

SUMMARY An object of the present invention is to overcome thedisadvantages and weakenesses of the known devices described above, andto provide a game device wherein the tether cord shall include both anelastic or resilient cord section and a non-elastic or nonstretchablecord section and there shall be novel and improved means for controllingthe stretchable of the elastic section in such a way as to ensure thereturn of the struck ball to the player and with a minimum of danger of3,502,337 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 ICC A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIGURE 1 is a plan view of the ball game device embodying the inventionwith the parts in normal unstretched condition;

FIGURE 2 is a greatly enlarged plan view of the parts shown in FIGURE 1with portions broken away and with the connections of the varioussections of the tether cord shown in detail;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view approximately on the plane ofthe line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic side elevational view illustrating the ball nearthe end of its flight in solid lines and showing the device with theball on the tee in heavy broken lines and the path of flight of the ballin light broken lines;

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic view illustratnig the relative lengths of thesections of the tether cord.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specifically describing theembodiment of the invention shown in FIGURES 1 through 5, inclusive, thedevice includes a tether cord A comprising a longitudinally resilient orelastic section 1 at one end of which is connected as by a loop 2 and aknot 3 to one end of a non-stretchable section 4, the other ends of thesections 1 and 4 being shown as connected to a tethering pin 5 and to aball 6. A non-stretchable check cord 7 has one end connected to thetethering pin 5 as indicated at 8 and its other end connected to thenon-stretchable section 4 as indicated at 9.

As best shown in FIGURE 1, the length of the check cord 7 issubstantially greater than the length of the completely contractedresilient section 1 and is substantially less than the length of theresilient section when the latter is stretched to its limit.

Preferably the non-stretchable section 4 and the check cord 7 compriseone piece that has one end connected to the tether pin, an intermediateportion looped around a fastener element such as a staple 10 in the ball6 and returned upon itself providing parallel reaches 4a and 4b. Saidreaches have looped connection 2 with the resilient section and are ofequal length between the elastic section and the ball, and the end ofthe continuous cord opposite that connected to the tether pin is fastconnected to the parallel reaches as indicated at 9.

When the device is in use, the tethering pin 5 is driven into the groundand a golf tee B is set in the ground at a distance from the tetheringpin slightly less than the length of the tether cord A when the elasticsection is completely contracted, as illustrated in heavy broken linesin FIGURE 4. When the ball is struck by a golf club in the hands of aplayer, the ball takes flight along a path generally indicated by thelight broken line in FIGURE 4. The elastic section is stretched but thecheck cord limits the extent of the stretching to less than thestretching limit of the elastic section and at the same time stops thestorage of energy in the elastic section while permitting absorption ofthe force incident to the flight of the ball and then automatic returnof the ball to the player near the tee position without stretching orbacklash of the elastic section by the momentum of the ball after thereturn of the ball to the tether pin. The force applied to the ball bythe players club is partially dissipated first in the stretch of theelastic section until that stretch is stopped by the check cord whichthereby stops the storage of energy in the elastic section and alsoindependently of the elastic cord section positively stops the flight ofthe ball so that the force of the ball in flight is transmitted solelythrough the non-stretchable section and the check cord to the tether pinand the stored energy in the elastic section returns the ballapproximately to the tether pin from Where the ball rolls or hops toapproximately the tee position.

It has been found from experience that the elastic or stretchablesection of the tether cord has a life many times longer than the life ofthe elastic section of the device shown in Patent No. 1,326,976.Furthermore, the device of the invention is adaptable to use with anygolf club from a driver to a wedge and will return the ball to thestarting position because of the short distance required for use of thedevice (approximately 18 to 20 ft.). This is in contrast to the knowndevices which require the use of particular golf clubs and the strikingof the ball in a particular manner, as well as distances of from 27 to40 ft. Another important advantage of the device of the invention isthat the stretch of the elastic section when the ball is struck by theplayer is limited and the elastic section does not stretch during thereturn of the ball which is believed to be due in part to thedissipation through the check cord of the force produced by the ball inflight into the ground at the tethering pin and to the limitation of thestorage of energy in the elastic section during the flight of the ball.

While the relative lengths of the portions of the tether cord and checkcord may be varied according to conditions of use, it has been foundthat a resilient section of about 54" in length, a non-stretchablesection about 36" in length and a check cord of about 90" in length,produce satisfactory results. The length of the check cord between thepoints of connection to the non-stretchable portions beyond oppositeends of the resilient section will of course vary 'with the length ofthe resilient section and the degree of elasticity thereof. In thepresent instance the length of the check cord is in the order of one andtwo-thirds times the length of the completely retracted resilientsection and the resilient section is stretchable to a length that issubstantially greater than one and twothirds times its completelycontracted length.

While diflerent types of cord may be utilized for the non-stretchablesection and the check cord, it is desirable that a known type of braidednylon cord be used; and the form of the resilient section may be varied,but preferably is a known type comprising a nylon covered group ofrubber strands.

The important features of the invention are:

(a) one end of the elastic cord section is connected directly to thetethering pin, and one end of the nonstretchable check cord is connecteddirectly to the tethering pin independently of the elastic section,while the other end of the check cord is connected to thenon-stretchable section 4 of the tether cord between the elastic cordsection and the ball as clearly illustrated in FIGURES l and 2 of theapplication drawings,

(b) the relative lengths of the elastic cord section and the check cordprovides independently of the elastic cord section a positive stop tothe flight of the ball when the ball is driven by a club in a naturalline of flight from a tee position across the tethering pin, and theelastic cord section is entirely relieved of he $1 ,961; incident to thestoppage of the ball,

(c) at the same time check cord provides a positive limitation to theextent of stretch of the elastic cord to ensure a minimum of strain,wear and tear on the cord,

(d) which limitation to the extent of stretch also constitutes alimitation to the storage of energy in the clastic cord section incidentto the flight of the ball, and

(e) the elastic cord section is light because the force applied to thestruck ball is completely assumed by the strong check cord and thetether pin, and the elastic cord has relatively small elasticity, sothat the small amount of energy stored in the elastic cord section isjust suflicient to cause a return of the ball to a point near the tetherpin, and the residual small momentum of the ball causes the ball toautomatically roll or hop to the tee position and eliminates the dangerthat the player might be struck by the ball as a result of backlash uponcontraction of the elastic cord Without danger of the player beingstruck.

What is claimed is:

1. A golf game practice device including a ball adapted to be driveninto a natural line of flight by a golf club, a tethering pin adapted tobe secured in the ground and a tether cord connected at its ends to saidball and to said tethering pin respectively, said tether cord includingan elastic cord section and a relatively short nonstretchablev cordsection, and a non-stretchable check cord, said elastic cord sectionhaving one end thereof secured to the tethering pin in direct engagingrelationship therewith and its other end connected to one end of saidnon-stretchable cord section, the other end of said non-stretchable cordsection being connected to the ball, said check cord having one endthereof secured to said tethering pin in direct engaging relationshiptherewith independently of said elastic cord section and its other endsecured to said non-stretchable cord section in direct engagingrelationship therewith between said elastic cord section and the ball,said check cord having a length substantially greater than the length ofthe completely contracted elastic cord section and the length of thecheck cord being less than the length of the elastic cord section whenthe latter is stretched to the limit, thereby providing independently ofsaid elastic cord section a positive stop to the flight of the ball whenthe ball is driven by a club in a natural line of flight from a teeposition across the tethering pin and at the same time providingpositive limitation to the extent of stretch of said elastic cordsection and the storage in the elastic cord section of energy by whichthe ball is automatically returned to approximately the tethering pinupon contraction of said elastic cord section and thereafter is causedto roll and hop on the ground approximately to the tee position.

2. A game device as defined in claim 1 wherein the length of the checkcord is of the order of one and twothird times the length of thecompletely contracted elastic section, and the. elastic section isstretchable to a length which is greater than one and two-thirds timesits completely contracted length.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS GEORGE L MA LQ, P i y Ex iner t

